Robinhood Posts Flat AUC as Crypto Trading Surges by 60% in November

The monthly active users and assets under custody (AUC) at Robinhood, a major US commission-free stock trading and investing application provider, returned flat last month, the firm reported in its November 2022 operating data published on Wednesday.

In October, the monthly active users (MAU) of the platform stood at 12.5 million users, the same as in October. However, compared to the same period in November 2021, the platform’s MAU has decreased by -33% from 18.6 million.

Furthermore, in terms of user growth, the net cumulative funded accounts (NCFA) on Robinhood steadied at 23 million, which is a 0.4% increase from 22.9 million last month. On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, this represents 1% growth.

In addition, the stock trading and investing app’s AUC remain static at $70.2 billion in both months, which represents a -35% decline from the $107.5 billion recorded in the same period last year.

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Crypto Trading Growth

Despite these figures, Robinhood recorded significant growth in its total crypto trading for November. The volume improved from $3.5 billion in October to $5.7 billion last month, representing a 60% increase.

This is a sharp turn from its October performance when crypto trading volume collapsed by -80%. However, compared to the $14.9 billion generated in November 2021, its cryptocurrency trading volume for last month also sank -62%.

Unlike cryptocurrency, trading in equities on Robinhood fell -4% from $46.7 billion in October to $44.7 billion last month. This figure is a far cry from the $96.9 billion posted in the same month last year, meaning that equity volume tanked -54%.

On the other hand, trading in options contracts improved by 4%, rising from 78.7 million contracts two months ago to 81.8 million contracts in November. However, just like the firm’s cryptocurrency and equities trading volumes, this figure represents a sharp departure (28% decline) from the 113 million options contracts traded in November 2021.

With the significant MoM growth in the cryptocurrency trading volume on Robinhood, the daily average revenue trades (DARTs) from cryptocurrency shot up by 40% to $0.3 million, which is down -37% from the $0.5 million generated during the same period in the prior year.

Meanwhile, in early November, Robinhood's shares plunged to a 2-week low in its steepest one-day decline. The event was triggered by the collapse of the once-beloved cryptocurrency exchange FTX’s collapse.